The Library
by mydearwaltson
Summary: One-shot, fluff. Eugene's day at the library, a memory and an embarrassing Rapunzel moment. Enjoy!


**I don't own anything Tangled**

**enjoy!**

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Reading had become a particular past time for the ex-thief. Often only because he'd grown tired of wandering through the castle all day. Max offered little to no help, being the captain of the guard and all and Pascal was always hanging around Rapunzel who was usually in classes. Besides, talking to animals was a bit bizarre, in his opinion. Fortunately for Blondie, being in love with her allowed him to look over that when it came to the horse and her frog, chameleon, thing.

Living in a castle was vastly overrated, but of course, he wasn't in the position to complain. The food was a hell of a lot better than scraps and stolen bread every night.

After mindlessly roaming the halls, skimming the doorways to looking for something to do, he usually found himself in the library.

It was a nice, quiet place to think or to occasionally actually read something.

Today was one of those days, only he wasn't paying attention to the book.

His own thoughts clouded his mind as his eyes looked over the pages in front of him. They were mainly about Rapunzel.

He remembered the day he had regretfully left her.

He was convinced that he didn't belong anywhere near her. He was a rogue thief and she, the long lost princess. A castle was no place for him and she deserved so much better. For the first time in his life he had felt inadequate. No longer arrogant. It was an odd feeling to him, he felt out of place in his own self.

Several days passed and each night he fell asleep with silent tears rolling down his face, thinking about his Blondie. Trying to tell himself that it was the right choice, that she should be happier with him out of her life.

But his attempts were in vain.

When the guards found him drinking away his worries alone in an alleyway on the outskirts of town, they hauled him back to a broken-hearted girl sobbing in her bed. Apparently over the course of those days Rapunzel had never left her room, never eaten anything offered to her, and had even shunned Pascal.

It was a wonder she even survived.

At first she was furious at him for leaving her. She looked up from under the bed sheets and glared at him, "You… YOU!" She threw the covers off of herself, charged towards him and shoved his chest with as much force as she could without hurting herself. In a fit of rage the livid girl shouted at the top of her lungs, screaming every profanity she knew at him (not very many considering she had only been out of that tower for no longer than a month) and angrily threw him questions but not giving the time to answer them. He didn't stop her.

Then she stopped herself. Her tiny hand lay in a tight fist on his chest as she breathed heavily through her nose. He could almost see the steam seeping through them. He figured she was all raged out so he tentatively touched his fingertips to her chin to let her look up into his eyes and smiled.

Her own eyes still carried a flicker of fury but were over-powered by longing and despair.

About a hundred other emotions crossed her face then she leaped into his arms and they never let go, tears streaming down both their cheeks, staining their clothes.

She made him promise to never leave her ever again, and that he did.

It was quite the mood swing she had. He would never forget that day.

Eugene smiled to himself. She needed him and he needed her.

At this point in his book, the only thing he was aware of was that someone just died.

His eyebrows furrowed. _How did that happen?_

He pulled the book closer to his face, hoping it would somehow help him focus on whatever he had grabbed from that shelf.

* * *

. . .

* * *

For a not-so-lost princess, she seemed pretty lost when it came to her royal classes. Manners were the only thing she had down. Even hidden in that tower, Gothel knew what she was doing when she raised Rapunzel. Good manners were top priority under her roof.

Everything else was a blur.

Small notes were taken when she could, but often she doodled across the pages. Trees, flowers, and other things that interested her. Particularly the golden sun on the kingdom's flag that happened to appear in all of her drawings and paintings, intentional or not.

It actually became a game for her favorite ex-thief. He would search for the hidden suns in all of her paintings, some were obvious, others took days to find. Sometimes she, herself would participate because she had no idea either.

"Princess?"

She looked up from her notebook and stared blankly at her teacher, Ms. Reins, "Uh, y-yes?" she sputtered.

"Are you listening?" She was growing irritated of her ignorance.

Rapunzel bit her lip but didn't say a word, "I think we're done here. Good day princess," she got up with a huff, gave a slight curtsy and strut out of the study. The princess sat there for a moment, pretending to organize her notes but really she was worried that the teacher didn't like her. This wasn't the first time that's happened, but she couldn't help it, so she decided to brush the feeling off again like always.

She sighed in relief, glad that the dull lesson was finally over and brought her supplies back to her room.

Just as she was placing her things inside her drawers, Pascal appeared on her shoulder making an adorable whirring noise.

"Hi Pascal!" she chimed nuzzling her cheek on his green scales, "That class drags, doesn't it?" She was using her baby voice. The chameleon nodded and squeaked in agreement to which Rapunzel giggled and left the room to find her ex-thief.

Her first thought was to go to her art room where he was sometimes found staring down her latest painting looking for the hidden suns when she remembered that there weren't any new ones to look at.

She closed the door and set off for the next obvious location: the library.

Skipping to her new destination, she met up with her mother, the queen, who was on her way to a meeting.

"Rapunzel, where are you going?" She wondered giving her daughter a hug.

"I'm looking for Eugene," she smiled at his name and continued, "I think he's in the library."

"Okay, but supper is almost ready, so…" she stopped mid-sentence but the message was clear.

"Yes Mama," she replied and she started off again.

When she waltzed in she quietly shushed Pascal who was still perched on her shoulder. He nodded again and then turned the same pale shade of periwinkle as her dress.

She walked straight into the area in the large room which Eugene had basically claimed and found a boot hanging over the back of the couch. She was far too familiar with it to wonder who it belonged to.

Her lips curved into a quirky half grin as she tip-toed over to the other side.

"Hey-" she started but caught herself when she saw him sleeping in one of the weirdest, most awkward positions she had ever seen him.

His legs were sprawled across the couch, one dangling over the back like she'd seen before. One arm was above his head, lazily placed on the armrest which his head was lying against. While the other arm rested on top of the flattened book on his face.

Rapunzel's hand flew up to her mouth to supress her laughter.

When she calmed down, she carefully lifted his hand from his face and took the book, placing it on the nearby coffee table.

_Heavy sleeper,_ she thought to herself.

It took a few moments for her to remember that watching someone sleep was considered creepy and stalker-ish.

He looked so… so… at peace when he slept. She couldn't help but wonder what he was dreaming about. Could it be a great adventure? Something completely impossible? Maybe he was dreaming about being Flynn Rider again.

She stopped her train of thought.

She didn't like his Flynn side as much as his Eugene side. In fact, she wanted that side of him gone because if he was Flynn then he wouldn't be capable of love. Rider was specially trained not to get attached to things. It was what came with the whole thieving gig.

If he wasn't capable of love then he wouldn't love her, then he would leave again…

Just then, a whisper that was barely even audible to her own ears escaped his lips, "Rapunzel…?" He croaked.

"Oh! Hey," she whispered softly crouching down to the same eye level as him and took his hand. His eyelids weren't even half open but he could still see her in his sleepy haze.

He smiled back to her and beckoned her to lie next to him.

Her eyes darted around but no one was to be seen in the dead silent area.

She then awkwardly positioned herself between his two outstretched arms and snuggled into his chest. He dug his nose into her neck and he relaxed again as she tried not to giggle, feeling slightly scandalous in the situation.

His arms encased her like a cage and brought her closer to him as he breathed in her enrapturing scent. She smelled like fresh baked cookies for some reason. Maybe she'd been baking recently.

No words were needed for the moment and Eugene was obviously too groggy to talk so they eventually fell asleep.

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. . .

* * *

About an hour passed and the feeling of unfamiliar accompaniment passed through him in his slumber. He stirred awake and his eyes fluttered open to see the queen's flushed, authoritive face standing before the two of them. He reflexively flinched which made Rapunzel start to wake up as well but she brushed away the disturbance and turned over to the other side, unaware of the motherly figure in front of her.

His lips went up to her ear and he whispered nervously, "Hey Blondie?"

"Hm?" She mumbled sleepily, her eyes still closed.

"Your mother's here."

It took a moment to process the information then she shot up and yelped, her face glowing red. When her eyes rested on her mother's uncomfortable expression she looked back down again, unable to take any disapproving looks from her.

Eugene came up soon after she did and started to ask, "How long-"

"Oh don't worry, you noticed me the moment I got here," she tried to put on a smile but it turned into an odd grin. She left, but not before turning to Rapunzel who was tugging embarrassingly at a longer strand of hair and whispering into her ear, "Supper's ready."

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**Just some fluffy fluff fluff**

**hoped you liked the randomness, have a magical day!**


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